The Future of Leicestershire - Part 3 - The bowling breakthroughs

Date: Friday 30 January 2009

The future of Leicestershire – Part 3 – The bowling breakthroughs

In the third of our four-part series on www.leicestershireccc.com, we continue to look at the future of Leicestershire cricket.

In the first of a two-part interview with Bowling Coach Lloyd Tennant, we speak to the former County bowler about the progress being made by talented young bowlers at the Club.

Lloyd is well-positioned to assess the bowling talent coming through the ranks as he oversees the development of the youngsters, who are in the early stages of their careers at Grace Road.

Tennant gets a good view of the whole developmental process undertaken by individuals – from grassroots level right to the top.

For example, he saw Stuart Broad go from youth cricket to international honours in a relatively short space of time before the young paceman moved on to our East Midland rivals Nottinghamshire.

Now there is a new wave of talent coming through, as Lloyd explains. He said: “There are a number of talented young bowlers at the club.

“There’s Sam Cliff, who has obviously broken through already into the first team. The next two pushing through are Nathan Buck and Alex Wyatt. There is also Harry Gurney, who is back at the club.

“All three are in South Africa at the minute, Nathan with England under 19s and Alex and Harry went out with Tim Boon to experience bowling in different conditions.

“He will also have a net with England under 19s too at some stage. Bucky seems to be doing well and Alex is hoping to break into the under 19s soon. He is one the England camp won’t have seen a lot of at this stage.

“Then below those two we have another group. John Gurney is in the Midlands under 17s then we have a group of 16-year-olds we have hopes for. Callum Wilson is another who is coming through in the Academy.

“In the sub-Academy we also have some promising youngsters on the pace bowling front, such as Ben Hinchliffe and Lila Godhania. There are some other good young bowlers too.

“Then come the spin bowlers, who tend to be a little bit younger. We have Lawrence Perry, who is a chinaman with potential.

“Then at the next age group down at under 15s, we have one of everything. We have Ben Collins, an off-spinner, who bowls it beautifully. He drifts it out and spins it back in and makes it bounce.

“We have Rajiv Purohit who is a left arm orthodox bowler who is coming on nicely, and then Ramandeep Ghuman who is a good leg spinner. We may have to wait a little while to see those three pushing through, but there is promise in the pipeline.

Tennant thinks the opportunities for young bowlers in this day and age are excellent. Not only are the facilities second to none, but first team opportunities are there when people push on significantly – like Broad did. But patience, he insists, is a key trait for youngsters to possess.

He said: “The lads in the younger age groups have got every opportunity they need. I think sometimes parents and the lads want to rush things and get a contract before they’re 17, like Stuart Broad did.

“But Broady was slightly different. At 15 and 16, although he was tall and developed a good away swinger, he didn’t have massive pace or the attributes he has now. But what he did have was a fantastic head on his shoulders; he was good mentally and had something about him.

“And when he got signed, everyone knew he was going to handle it - there wasn’t a question. Yet physically, and talent-wise you wouldn’t have said he’d be doing some of the stuff that some of the lads are doing now, but you knew he was going to grow into it. There was something quite special about him, and he kicked on all in one go.

“In that respect, he was a bit like Matt Boyce really. I’m not saying it comes easy to them, but it’s natural. Boycie walked out to bat for the first team in the first game last season and you could tell he was ready for it, that things would work out for him.

“So there’s a lesson with those two really, because not all of the young lads are going to come through at the same pace as those two. Hopefully we’ll have another international bowler in the coming years, but the main thing is there is a pathway for the young bowlers.

“Hopefully there is a bit of a conveyer belt developing, and with some of the lads getting into the Midlands and international squads at age group level, it’s going well.”

Seeing Broad and Cliff make the rise into the first team, says Tennant, gives the Academy lads role models to look at and say ‘if they can do it, so can we.’

Given that fact, and also that the Academy provides the youngsters with the strength and conditioning required as they step through the levels, Tennant believes the bowling future is in good health.

One thing he would like to see change, though, is bowling limitations in age group cricket, which he feels can hold back young seamers.

He said: “Seeing the likes of Broady and Sam break through gives the 16 and 17 year olds something to aim for. The one problem we have is the bowling limitations in age group cricket.

“I know you can’t over-bowl bowlers, because they’ll pick up injuries. But at the same time, if you under-bowl bowlers they are not fit enough, if they say, want to step up to second team cricket. They are not fit enough physically or mentally.

“That is because most are use to bowling four overs on, four overs off, and so on. In the seconds, someone could get injured in a three-day game and you might need to bowl ten overs in a spell, then another ten overs later in the day. That can happen.

“You have to get opening bowlers in particular very strong. Then, that helps when they step up into second team cricket.

“So, one great thing is that physically, the lads in the Academy are starting to get stronger. Strength is a major part of bowling and is overlooked at times, but it is happening here, which is great.”

Next week, Lloyd looks at the impact made by Cliff and Nadeem Malik last season, and looks ahead to the roles of individual bowlers for the 2009 season.